Rep. Brian Higgins’s 2018 Report Card
Representative
from New York's 26th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Higgins’s record during the 115th Congress (Jan 3, 2017-Jan 3, 2019) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 20, 2019.
A higher or lower number below doesn’t necessarily make this legislator any better or worse, or more or less effective, than other Members of Congress. We present these statistics for you to understand the quantitative aspects of Higgins’s legislative career and make your own judgements based on what activities you think are important.
Keep in mind that there are many important aspects of being a legislator besides what can be measured, such as constituent services and performing oversight of the executive branch, which aren’t reflected here.
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the fewest bills compared to New York DelegationIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 0 of Higgins’s 9 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Higgins caucused with in the 115th Congress. Compare to all New York Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Got their bills out of committee the least often compared to New York Delegation (tied with 1 other)Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Higgins introduced 0 bills in the 115th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all New York Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Introduced the 2nd fewest bills compared to New York DelegationHiggins introduced 9 bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all New York Delegation (4th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (18th percentile); House Democrats (14th percentile); All Representatives (14th percentile). |
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Got the 3rd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to New York DelegationHiggins’s bills and resolutions had 78 cosponsors in the 115th Congress. Securing cosponsors is an important part of getting support for a bill, although having more cosponsors does not always mean a bill will get a vote. View Bills » Compare to all New York Delegation (7th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (11th percentile); House Democrats (12th percentile); All Representatives (16th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 87th most often compared to All RepresentativesIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 392 bills that Higgins cosponsored, 31% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all New York Delegation (70th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); House Democrats (64th percentile); All Representatives (80th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Laws EnactedHiggins introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 115th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all New York Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). The legislator must be the primary sponsor of the bill or joint resolution that was enacted or the primary sponsor of a bill or joint resolution for which at least about one third of its text was incorporated into another bill or joint resolution that was enacted as law, as determined by an automated analysis. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. We also exclude bills where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill. |
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Powerful Cosponsors1 of Higgins’s bills and resolutions in the 115th Congress had a cosponsor who was a chair or ranking member of a committee that the bill was referred to. Getting support from committee leaders on relevant committees is a crucial step in moving legislation forward. Those bills were: H.R. 3368: To amend title 38, United … Compare to all New York Delegation (7th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (10th percentile); House Democrats (10th percentile); All Representatives (11th percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 4094: Medicare-X Choice Act of 2017 Compare to all New York Delegation (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (9th percentile); House Democrats (14th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsHiggins held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Higgins’s Profile » Compare to all New York Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Bills CosponsoredHiggins cosponsored 392 bills and resolutions introduced by other Members of Congress. Cosponsorship shows a willingness to work with others to advance policy goals. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all New York Delegation (41st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (68th percentile); House Democrats (46th percentile); All Representatives (74th percentile). |
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Missed VotesHiggins missed 3.5% of votes (42 of 1,210 votes) in the 115th Congress. View Higgins’s Profile » Compare to all New York Delegation (63rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); All Representatives (61st percentile). The Speaker of the House, per current House rules, is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings” and is never recorded as missing a vote, and may not be included in the comparison with other representatives if not voting. The delegates from the five island territories and the District of Columbia are not eligible to vote in most roll call votes and so may not appear here if not elligible for any vote during the time period of these statistics. |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Higgins supported any of 32 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Higgins 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all New York Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
Additional Notes
Leadership/Ideology: The leadership and ideology scores are not displayed for Members of Congress who introduced fewer than 10 bills, or, for ideology, for Members of Congress that have a low leadership score, as there is usually not enough data in these cases to compute reliable leadership and ideology statistics.
Missing Bills: We exclude bills from some statistics where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill because the bill’s text was replaced in whole with unrelated provisions (i.e. it became a vehicle for passage of unrelated provisions).
Ranking Members (RkMembs): The chair of a committee is always selected from the political party that holds the most seats in the chamber, called the “majority party”. The “ranking member” (sometimes “RkMembs”) is the title given to the senior-most member of the committee not in the majority party.
Freshmen/Sophomores: Freshmen and sophomores are Members of Congress whose first term (in the same chamber at the end of the 115th Congress) was the 115th Congress (freshmen) or 114th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
